Charging, cleaning and metering apparatus



5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG] L. H. SMITH CHARGING, CLEANING AND METERING APPARATUS Dec. 27, 1966 Filed May 27, 1964 F I II IIIIIIIL INVENTOR.

LOFTON H. SMHH ATTORNEYS iS -"MJ Dec. 27, 1966 H. SMITH 3,293,700

CHARGING, CLEANING AND METERING APPARATUS Filed May 27, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

LO FTON H. SMITH A TTORNE Dec. 27, 1966 n- CHARGING, CLEANING AND METERING APPARATUS Filed May 27, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 v INVENTOR.

LOFTON H, SMITH I A TTORNE Y5 United States Patent This invention relates generally to equipment for processing textiles and more particularly to improvements in equipment for charging, cleaning, metering and feeding fibers to provide a uniform blend.

The grade of yarn and cloth in a textile operation is determined by the ability of a mill to successfully clean, and blend together in a consistent manner a predetermined number of different fibers. Any variation in the blend at the outset of the operation will become apparent, and be exaggerated in the finished cloth product. Also, a variation at an early stage will cause improper operation of machines used in subsequent stages as the fiber is processed through the mill. Yarn breakage in the operation is increased due to too much or too little of a certain type fiber being in the wrong place and such inconsistent or nonuniform yarn must be graded according to its lowest or weakest point. Therefore, consistency is very important in the manufacture of textiles.

A conventional line of machinery to open, clean and blend textile fiber usually consists of a battery of three to six feeders, each delivering to a single belt conveyor apron. The apron delivers the accumulation to two or three cleaning and mixing machines, from which the fiber is moved to pickers or carding machines and then to other machines for making the cloth. From four to six bales of fiber are opened up behind each of the feeders. An operator attempts to keep each of the feeders loaded with a portion of each bale of fiber laid out behind the feeder. It is next to impossible for the operator to keep a representative amount from each bale in the feeder at all times. Even if the operator is able to keep the amounts fairly accurate, the feeder will tend to draw from one batch at a time, due to the inadequacy of the feeder. The action of a conventional feeder is to form a roll or cylinder of fiber in the reservoir section and since the elevator apron picks only from the outside of the roll it is apparent that a consistent feed of all types of fibers represented cannot be accomplished. The portion from each bale fed by the operator is in slab form and since the slab will be on the outer surface of the reservoir roll it can be seen that actually, at a given moment, the elevator apron will pick from only one of the slabs in the reservoir. Thus, the feeder is providing a nonuniform mix that can never be overcome in later operations.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide equipment which will uniformly blend different fibers and which. will overcome the disadvantages stated above of conventional feeding and blending equipment.

It is another object of the invention to provide equipment which will feed and blend fibers in any desired proportion and at any desired rate.

It is still another object of the invention to provide apparatus which is capable of mixing fibers in any desired proportions to-make a yarn and which will open, clean and feed, in any selected uniform proportions, the blended fibers to subsequent processing machines.

It is a further object of the invention to provide in an equipment of the above described characteristics, a feeder having a reservoir chamber including a control gate assembly for maintaining mixed fibers at a given level.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a feeder of the above described characteristics in which Patented Dec. 27, 1966 the control gate assembly starts and stops the charger which feeds said reservoir with the fibers to be blended.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide in a charger, of the above described characteristics the provision of vertical bafiles defining lateral chambers for separating the different fibers fed to the charger apron.

Still another object of the invention is to provide equipment which will ensure uniformity of blend and make possible as much as a 20% betterment of the break strength of finished yarn made from the blended fibers, and which will further reduce breakage by up to 21% in spinning, thus enabling production of higher grade yarn and cloth from lower grades of fiber.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide in a feeder of the above described characteristics means for precleaning the fibers.

A still further object of the invention is to provide in charging, feeding, cleaning and metering equipment, of the described characteristics, a feeler level operated assembly in the metering unit for controlling stop and start of the charging and feeding units.

The novel features that are considered characteristic of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of a specific embodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the several figures and in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of equipment for blending fibers according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic elevational view of the equipment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of one of the charger, feeder, cleaner and metering machines;

FIG. 4 is a central vertical section of the machine shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the equipment shown in FIG. 3 with the top wall removed;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional, fragmentary view taken on line 66 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional, fragmentary view taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged, fragmentary view taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 is an elevational view of a detail of the metering level control assembly; and

FIG. 10 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 1010 of FIG. 1.

Overall equipment Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 in which are diagrammatically portrayed the improved equipment for automatically feeding and metering fibers to provide a uniform blend, the blocks 11-22 represent 12 different bales of cotton, or other fiber, opened and arranged in pairs, each pair being aligned with the other pairs in a manner such that it will 'be easy for an operator to feed the three machines 30 shown aligned transversely to the bales of fiber. To this end, the bale pairs 11 and 12 are spaced from b-ale pairs 13 and 14 to permit the operator to load the charger section 40 of the first machine in a manner denoted by the broken line arrows so that fiber from the same bale is always loaded into the same compartment of the charger 40. Similarly, bale pairs 15 and 16 are spaced from ibales 17 and 18 for loading of the second machine and bale pairs 19 and 20- are spaced from the bale pairs 21 and 22.

Each of the machines, generally indicated by the reference numeral 30, comprises a charger section 40', feeder section 60, an opener and cleaner section 80 and a metering section 100. Each machine 30* is adapted to uniformly mix the fibers from the four bales shown, or any other suitable number if so desired, and to deliver the mixed fibers at any desired rate to the transverse conveyor 120. The output from the first machine forming a blanket 1692 of fiber tufts covered, or lapped, by the output 104 from the second machine, and in turn covered by a layer 106 which is the output from the third machine. The three layers of partially mixed fibers are then sucked upwardly in conduit 108- by means of a fan 120' and deposited in the reservoir of another metering device 110 similar to the metering units 100, from which the completely mixed fibers of all twelve bales may be dispensed at any desired speed to an outlet 112 for feeding subsequent machine operations in the making of textiles.

Each machine 30, which is a combination charger, feeder, preopener cleaner, and metering equipment is shown in 'a preferred embodiment in FIGS. 39.

Charger unit The changer section 40, shown best in FIGS. 3-5, comprises sidewalls 4ll and end wall 43 mounted on a frame (not shown) and enclosing a substantially horizontal conveyor belt 44 trained over the drums 46 and 48. This section is open at the top and is provided with a plurality of vertical spacers 42 which divide the charger into four, or more, equal, or unequal, compartments. Each partition 42 is positioned :above the conveyor 44 at an upwardly inclined angle toward the feeder section and is preferably spaced above the conveyor so as to reduce the friction between the partitions 42 and the fiber being moved by the conveyor.

Feeder unit The feeder section 60, as best illustrated in FIGS. 3-7, is entirely enclosed by walls except for the inlet opening 61 and the outlet opening 62. Within the chamber and below the charger apron 44 is a substantially horizontal apron 63 trained over drums 64 and 66. An elevator apron 68 having conventional pins thereon is substantially vertically disposed adjacent the output end of conveyor 63 and trained over the drums 70' and 72. A conventional kick back roll cylinder 50, also having needle-like appendages projecting from its surface, is arranged to rotate near the upper end of the elevator apron 68 so as to feed tufts of fiber to the opening 62, a certain amount of the fiber being carried around by the kick back roll to fall back into the chamber of feeder 60 to form the usual roll therein.

Within the chamber of feeder 60' is a vertically mounted gate 74 rigidly attached to the horizontal shaft 75 which is mounted to turn in bearing openings in the side walls of the feeder. Near the upper end of the gate 74 is mounted a horizontally extended shaft-like member 78 on which is movably mounted a weight 78a which may be adjusted in any position along the member 78 and fixed by means of a screw, or like. Parts 78 and 78a constitute a counterbalance for the gate 74. Outside the chamber of feeder 60 is a horizontally disposed rod 76 fixed at one end by a collar 77 angularly adjustable on the shaft 75. The other end of rod 76 is coupled by means of an enlarged hole, or slot, and a nut to the upper end of a vertical rod 79. The lower end of rod 79 is pivotally secured to a bell crank arm 82 fixed to a shaft 83 (see F161 6) which rotates in a bearing opening in the bracket 84. A second arm 85 of the bell crank terminates in a fork 86 at its lower end which embraces a belt 88. The charger conveyor drum 48 is fixed to shaft 49 which in turn is keyed to an outer pulley 51 at 53 (see FIG. 7). An inner pulley 52 is freely rotatable on shaft 49 and belt 88 may be shifted from the free pulley 52 to the pulley 51 or vice versa, by movements of the gate 74 through the above described linkage.

Operation of charger and feeder It will be apparent that when an adequate supply roll of fiber is present in the chamber of feeder 60, as moved thereinto by the conveyors 44 and 63 and kicked back by the roll 50, that gate 74 will be moved to the left and the shaft 75 turned clockwise as viewed in FIG. 3. When this occurs rod 79 will be lifted, and through bell crank 82, 85, will shift the belt 88 to the free pulley thus stopping the drive to shaft 49 and the conveyor 44. When the supply of fibers in the feeder drops below a desirable level, which is adjustable to any'selected value by shifting the counterweight 78a the gate 74 will move to the right in FIG. 3, lowering the rod 79 and shifting the fork and belt 88 to the keyed pulley 51 to start conveyor 44- once again so as to feed additional fiber into the feeder 60.

It should be noted that in the feeder of the present invention, due to the four laterally aligned compartments in the charger defined by the partitions 42 and the side walls of the charger, that four rolls of fibers are formed on the bottom conveyor 63 as a result of the lifting action of the elevator 68. These four rolls turn and bear against the gate 74 to operate the belt shifting fork 86, as previously described, and thereby maintain a suitable amount of fiber in the chamber of the feeder at all times. Because there are four lateral-1y aligned rolls of fiber, one from each of the bales 11, 12, 13 and 14, the elevator will continuously lift equal amounts of fiber from each of the four rolls, or bales, and pass the fiber in proportion through the opening 62 to the cleaner 80. Thus a uniform mixture of fibers from the four bales is fed to the cleaner whereas in conventional charging and feeding apparatus the material from four bales for example is laid onto the charger belt one on top of the other rather than laterally displaced. Therefore, in such equipment only a single roll is formed on the bottom conveyor of the feeder, which single roll has layers from each of the four bales but the layers are radially displaced. As a result the elevator belt tends to lift a greater quantity of fiber from one bale into the cleaner rather than equal amounts from the four bales. Thus in conventional apparatus not only is it difficult to place equal amounts from different bales in the charger but the feeder tends to feed unequal amounts of the different fibers and these two sources of error are compounded to yield a still worse result insofar as obtaining proportionate amounts of different fibers out of the feeder.

Cleaner and opener unit and its operation Cleaner section comprises a rectangular housing having an opening adjacent to the outlet 62 of the feeder and in which is placed a conventional doifer roll 90 which delivers fibers from the feeder downwardly to the first of a series of beater cylinders 92. Three such beater cylinders are shown arranged along an upwardly inclined axis, the cylinders being rotated about horizontally disposed, parallel axes. Below each cylinder is an adjustable grid bar section 91 through the openings of which dirt and refuse may fall into the lower part of the cleaner chamber. The beater cylinders and grid bar sections may be formed as disclosed in my co-pending application 'Ser. No. 54,445, filed September 7, 1960 now Patent No. 3,136,004 in which the grid bar sections are adjustable to change the inclination and size of the refuse openings with portions of each grid in the form of fixed screens. In the lower, refuse receiving portion of the cleaner an outer wall is provided with one, or more, air outlets 96 which prevent the build up of air pressure in the refuse chamber. A refuse outlet, or clean out door, 98 is also provided in at least one wall. Centrally above each of the first two beater cylinders are vertical, or substantially vertical, partitions 93, 94 extending from downwardly the ceiling nearly to the radial pins on the cylinders.

These partitions define, between them and the walls of the cleaner, three vertically disposed chambers, one above each cylinder 92 which retain some of the fiber and prevent its being carried backwardly in the cleaner. At the lower ends of partitions 93, 94 are angular bafiie sections 95 and 97, made adjustable so as to extend more or less down between the cylinders. This adjustability may be achieved by any satisfactory means such as by bolts and slots. The baffies serve to change the area of the openings between the cylinders and thus change the rate of feed of fiber through the cleaner section 80. Shortening the partitions 93, 94 by lifting sections 9 and 97 will allow some backward feed thus permitting some of the fiber to pass two, three or more times over one or more of grids 91. This results in additional cleaning and opening of the fibers and is useful in handling low grade fiber high in dirt content or high density fibers. The open chambers on each side of baflle 94 will allow fiber and especially lumps of fiber to be released from the cylinders, by centrifugal force to travel upwardly and then fall by gravity on to the cylinders, where the lumps are again struck by the cylinder pins and further opened. Each time fiber is subjected to the action of a cylinder the lumps are opened and cleaned further. Thus the presence of the chambers above the cylinders increases the efliciency of the cleaner and opener unit. The air outlet 96 in the refuse compartment below the grids allows excess air pressure to escape causing increased air flow through the grids. With this flow of air an increased amount of dust and other refuse will travel into the refuse compartment. Were it not for the air outlet, a build up of pressure in the refuse compartment would result and cause a greater percentage of dust and refuse to travel completely through the cleaner carried by the fiber. Desirably the air outlet 96 should be adjustable to provide different and proper rates of air flow. It will be apparent from the above description that the cleaner section 80 of each machine 30 provides at least three improvements over normal cleaners, i.e., one, the use of an air outlet in the refuse compartment which prevents build up of air pressure therein, two, the adjustable baflles 95 and 97 which permit regulation of the cleaner section to provide different rates of cleaning and additional cleaning of the same fiber batches, and three, the vertical compartments above the cylinders surrounding the baflles 93 and 94 which provide space for returned or retained fibers so that they may be subjected to further cleaning by further passes around each of the cylinders 92.

Metering unit and level control The mete-ring section 100 comprises a chamber enclosed by walls having an inlet opening 114, FIG. 3, for the cleaned and opened fiber coming from the cleaner 80. Near the bottom of the chamber are horizontally spaced, parallel, wooden fluted cylinders 116, FIG. 4, which are feed, or delivery, rolls for the fiber. These rolls may be operated at any desired speed by means to be described hereinafter. Below the rolls 116 is a roll 118 which serves to break the lap for-med by the pressure of the rolls 116 so that fiber is fed in tufts to the conveyor belt 122 which is disposed transversely of all three machines 30 to receive tufts from each machine. The incoming fiber to the chamber of metering section 100 is fairly open and lightweight and requires a very sensitive level control assembly generally designated by the reference numeral 124. As best seen in FIGS. 4 and 8, the level control assembly 124 comprises a horizontally disposed teeter bar 126 to which is attached a substantially vertical but slightly inclined pressure plate 128. The bar 126 passes through openings 130 in the side walls 132 of the metering chamber. A pair of brackets 134 are afi'ixed to the outside surfaces of walls 132 and each bracket has threaded therein a vertically extending and adjustable screw 136 terminating in an upper conically shaped point.

At each side of the lower surface of bar 126 is a downwardly tapering, conical opening 138 for pivotally seating the bar on the screws 136. At one end of the bar 126 is a collar 140 fastened to the bar by screw 142, said collar having a dependent threaded rod 146 upon which is adjustably held a tubular weight 148 which acts as a counterbalance for the pressure plate 128. A second collar 150, similar to collar 140, is fastened to the opposite ends of the teeter bar and has secured thereto on its upper side a forked spring clip 152 in which is retained the tilt actuated mercury switch 154. 'Leads 156 and 158 connect the contacts of the mercury switch to the feeder motor 200 as will be fully explained hereinafter.

Metering level control operation Fiber delivered into the chamber of the metering unit is in a very opened and light condition and therefore a conventional level control assembly is not adequate. The special level control assembly 124, by utilizing a preferably upwardly extending and balanced pressure plate 128 delicately supported by teeter bar 126 permits operation with very little pressure. The cone point balance screws 136' supported in the downwardly tapered, cone openings of the teeter bar provide very delicate pivotal support without danger of the pivots becoming clogged with lint or grease which would cause friction and make the assembly hard to move. The described construction also prevents maladjustment which would tend to bind the teeter bar. If for any reason refuse clogs the pivot openings a slight bump by the operator will jar the teeter bar and tend to remove the refuse without disengaging the bar from its support screws. Because of the cone shaped bores in the bar, the bar will simply slide back to its proper location on the screws and remain in balanced condition. Desirably the brackets 134 are provided with slots, not shown, which enable proper alignment of the screws 136 with the teeter bar 126.

Drives for various units Referring particularly to FIGS. 1 and 5 each automatic machine 30 is provided with a metering, drive motor 160 directly connected to a gear reducer 162, which for example may reduce the speed by 100 to 1. The motor 160 is preferably a variable speed motor such as a DC. motor having a potentiometer 164 connected in the field circuit and a potentiometer adjusting knob 166. The potentiometer control 166 may be turned to result in a motor speed of 1000 r.p.m. The output speed of the gear reducer is therefore 10 r.p.m. A sprocket 168, having twelve teeth for example, is afiixed to the output shaft of the gear reducer and drives through chain 170 a thirty six tooth sprocket 172 aifixed to the shaft of one delivery roll 116 and drives this roll at 3 /3 r.p.m. At the other end of its shaft this roll is connected, through meshing equal gears 174 and 177, the other delivery roll 116 so that the two delivery rolls are caused to turn at the same speed. If for example the delivery rolls 116 are of such diameter as to feed one pound of fiber per each revolution, the resultant fiber output from the metering chamber will be approximately 200 pounds of fiber per hour (1 x 3.33 x 60). By varying the rheostat position any desired delivery rate for a given machine 30 can be obtained. The delivery rates of the other machines may be set at the same value by the respective control knobs 166 mounted on control panel 180, FIG. 1, or may be set at different values as may be desired to vary the proportions of different fibers from bales 11-22 appearing in the final mix.

Mounted on and above each machine 30 is a drive motor for the cleaner, see FIG. 3, which is also preferably a variable speed drive motor controlled on and off from the panel 180. The output shaft of the motor 190 is fixed to a drive pulley 192, which by means of belt 194 trained over pulley 196 on the adjacent end of the shaft of the center cylinder 92 drives said cylinder. A pair of belts 193, 195 is trained over adjacent pairs of pulleys on the ends of the three shafts of the cylinders 92, see FIG. 5, causing the center cylinder to drive the remaining two cylinders. Additionally, a belt 198 is trained over pulleys on the ends of the shafts fixed to the center cleaner cylinder and the lap breaking roll 118 of the metering unit so that the lap breaking roll 118 is driven with the cylinders 92 by the motor 190.

A variable speed motor 200, controlled manually on and oif from the panel 180 and automatically by the metering level control assembly 124, is normally set to run at a speed which feeds fiber at a faster rate than the rolls driven by the motor 160, and is mounted on top of machine 30, see FIG. 3. Belt 202 trained over pulleys on the motor shaft and the shaft to the doffer roll drives the latter at a constant speed. A transmission belt 204, FIG. 5, is trained over a pulley fixed to the other end of the doffer roll and over a second pulley keyed on the shaft of the kick back roll 50 to drive the kick back roll. Through pulleys respectively keyed to the shafts of the kick back roll and the upper drum 72 of the elevator apron a trans-mission belt 206 drives the elevator apron. The lower roll 70 of the elevator apron is driven by the apron 68. Roll 70, through a pulley aflixed to the same shaft, drives the transmission belt 208 which in turn drives pulley 209 keyed to the shaft of drum 66 to move the bottom conveyor 62 of the feeder. Another drum 210 is fixed on the shaft of drum 66 and has trained over it the transmission belt 88 which drives the charger conveyor 44 in the manner previously described through the gate 74 and linkage 79 including fork '86 to stop or start the charger apron 44 depending upon whether the feeder is fully charged or the level of fiber has dropped below an acceptable minimum therein.

The mercury switch 154 is connected in the circuit of motor 200 so that when level control assembly 124 and its pressure plate 128 are pushed counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 4, by a sufficient stock of fiber in the chamber of the metering unit 100, the motor 200 is cut off from the source of electric power, not shown, and the feeder aprons are stopped. When, however, the supply of fiber in the metering unit drops below an adequate level, the pressure plate carried by the counterbalance 148 returns to its rest position against the flange stop at the upper part of the chamber and the mercury switch 154 is tilted back to horizontal to close its contacts and start motor 200 so as to feed more fiber through the cleaner to the metering chamber. In this way an appropriate level of cleaned fiber is always maintained in the metering unit so that the output from the delivery rolls 116 remains constant.

The electric circuits for powering and controlling the various motors from control panel 180 will be obvious to a skilled electrician and therefor no circuit diagrams are included herein, only some of the connections from panel 180 being diagrammatically indicated by broken lines in FIG. 1.

Output mechanism The horizontal conveyor 122, FIG. 2, which receives the output from each of the machines 30, is trained over a drum at each end, one of said drums being driven by a transmission belt 212 by direct current, variable speed motor 220 which may be tied into the same electric circuit as the last in line metering motor 160 to operate at the same speed as said last motor. The output fibers in tufts forming layers 102, 104, 106 are moved toward the right end of conveyor 122, where they are sucked into the pneumatic pipe 108 evacuated by a fan condenser housed in chamber 120. The blended fibers are dropped from 120 into a metering reservoir 110 containing delivery rolls 116 and which is in all respects similar to the metering chambers 100, see FIG. 10, except that the mixed output of fibers from all machines 30 is delivered to a second pneumatic pipe 112 and from thence to subsequent machines for processing the fibers, such as for further opening, further cleaning, spinning and the like. A control assembly 124 in metering reservoir is connected to switch on and off the conveyor 122 by controlling motor 220 and simultaneously start and stop all of the metering motors 160.

Operation A predetermined slab of fiber from bale 11 is folded lengthwise by an operator and placed into the first charger slot defined by partitions 42 at the left of FIG. 1. Similarly, slabs of fiber from the other bales are placed in order in each of the other charger slots as indicated by the broken line arrows. Motors are started by the operator to revolve cleaner cylinders 92 continuously. These motors do not stop and start automatically. Motors 200 are then started which revolve all aprons of the feeders and chargers, and at proper time an adequate supply roll of fiber in feeders 60 will move the gates 74 to automatically stop the respective charger aprons 44. Since at the start, no fiber is present in the reservoirs of feeders 60, the swing gates 74 are pivoted, due to counterbalance 78a, to positions causing the belt shifter linkage to actuate the belt shifters 86 to move the transmission belts 88 to the keyed pulleys 51. This causes rotation of pulleys 51 which moves the charger aprons 44 clockwise as viewed in FIG. 3, carrying the four different fibers in the charger compartments of each machine toward the right to be deposited on aprons 63. These aprons move :all the fiber batches, side by side to the elevator aprons 68 which lift them in upward direction by picking small amounts from each type of fiber since all types have contacted pins of the elevator aprons at the same time. The relative movements of aprons 63 and 68 cause the remainder of the mass of fibers to fall back in the feeder chamber and form rolls, or cylinders, therein. These rolls of fiber being laterally aligned contain portions from all of the bales, each roll containing fiber from a given bale. Each batch or roll of fiber exerts some pressure on a gate 74 and since excess fiber will fall by gravity from the elevator aprons the excess drops vertically to the proper location or roll aligned with its respective charger slot. Small amounts of fiber are stripped from the elevator aprons 68 by action of kick rolls 50. These also fall by gravity and will return to approximately proper locations. Fiber remaining in the feeders will be forced against the swing gates 74 ultimately causing reverse action of belt shifters 86 shifting the transmission belts 88 to loose pulleys 52 and the respective charger aprons 44 stop. While any given apron 44 remains stopped, the operator reloads all four slots in the same manner as before, being careful to place a proper portion into the proper slot. When a feeder 60 is again sufficiently low in supply, swing gate 74 will move in the opposite sense and cause its associated charger apron 44 to again deliver fiber properly disposed in side by side relation into the feeder. This process is repeated automatically. Hence the feeders are kept at approximately proper level at all times, each with given types of fiber always in the same relative position laterally against the elevator apron.

The partitions 42 are inclined above the charger aprons 44 so that they serve to hold batches of fiber laterally separated. The inclination of the partitions 42 relieves some of the side pressure against the fiber and when a charger apron starts moving, the fiber will have little tendency to adhere to the partitions and will move readily with the apron. The fiber lifted by the elevator apron 68 past a kick roll 50 will travel to a doifer roll 90 where it is stripped from the elevator apron and deposited in a cleaner 80. The fiber output from a feeder falls by gravity to contact the first cleaner cylinder 92 whose action partially opens, cleans and moves the fiber to the second cylinder. Here the cleaning process is repeated. The third cylinder also cleans and delivers the fiber to a metering chamber 100. As the level of fiber reaches high enough in a metering chamber, pressure is exerted on the level control assembly 124 to tilt the associated mercury switch 154 and stop the respective motor 200 which drives the associated feeder components. As long as levels of fiber in metering chambers 100 are adequate, motors 200 will remain stopped. When fibers are needed for subsequent processes, motors 160 and motor 220 driving apron 122 will be actuated through the level control assembly in metering unit 110 and the delivery rolls 116 of each machine 30 will start drawing fiber from the metering chambers, depositing it on conveyor 122. As fiber in the metering chambers 100 is lowered, level controls 124 will return to on positions, moved by the counterbalances 148, and the mercury switches 154 again start the motors 200 to drive the feeders so that the supply of cleaned fiber in the metering chambers will be replenished. Each feeder drive is preferably set to deliver more fiber than rolls 116 so that the level controls 124 will soon cause motors 200 to be stopped again. This process is repeated as long as the system is in operation.

Ordinarily the delivery rolls 116 are checked by experiments or test to determine exactly what quantity of any given type of fiber is delivered at a given speed for a unit of time. By adjusting the speed of delivery rolls 116, any desired amounts of particular fibers may be delivered in a unit of time. Since the conveyor 122 can be arranged to receive from any number of machines 30, almost any desired variation of proportions of different fiber types may be sandwiched on conveyor 122. All delivery rolls 116 and conveyor 122 may be controlled from control panel 180 to have the same synchronized speed if equal proportions are desired to be blended from all the bales. But if different proportions are desired, each machine 30 can be set to deliver at a different rate.

Tests performed have shown that the described equipment, using a standard mill mix of fibers, will increase the break strength of the finished yarn as much as 20%. The spinning room ends down, or breakage, was reduced up to 21% on the sample runs. These tests have proven that lower grades of fiber may be used to make high grade yarn and cloth.

Although certain specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it is obvious that many modifications thereof are possible. The invention, therefore is not to be restricted except insofar as is necessitated by the prior art and by the spirit of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A charging, cleaning and metering equipment for feeding and blending fibers, comprising a laterally compartmented charger defined by vertical partitions and having a substantially horizontal, belt driven conveyor below the partitions, a feeder disposed at the output end of said conveyor, a substantially horizontal second conveyor and a substantially vertical elevator apron in said feeder, a vertically disposed and pivoted level gate in said feeder, linkage connecting said gate to a belt shifter for stopping and starting said first conveyor at predetermined levels of fiber in the feeder, a plurality of cleaner grates of semicylindrical shape arranged in an upwardly inclined direction, each grate having a rotatable cleaner cylinder disposed coaxially with the axis of the grate, a vertically disposed cleaning chamber above each cylinder, said chambers communicating with each other at the inclined plane of said cylinders, a refuse chamber below said grates having an air exhaust opening, said elevator apron being arranged to feed a mixture of fibers from the compartments of said charger to the first of said vertically disposed cleaning chambers, first means for simultaneously driving said elevator apron and horizontal conveyors, second means for driving said cleaner cylinders, the last of said vertical cleaning chambers feeding into the upper part of a metering chamber, a pair of fluted delivery rolls in the bottom of the metering chamber, third means for driving said delivery rolls, manually controllable potentiometer means for varying the speed of said delivery roll drive means, a level control assembly in said metering chamber above the delivery rolls, switch means operated by tilting of said level control assembly to start and stop said first drive means at predetermined levels of cleaned fiber in the metering chamber, a delivery conveyor below said metering chamber to receive fiber from said delivery rolls, and fourth drive means for moving said delivery conveyor at a selected speed.

2. A charging, cleaning and metering equipment for feeding and blending fibers, comprising a laterally compartmented charger defined by vertical partitions and having a substantially horizontal conveyor below the partitions, a feeder disposed at the output end of said conveyor, a substantially vertical elevator apron in said feeder, a pivoted level gate in said feeder, means operated by said gate for stopping and starting said conveyor at predetermined levels of fiber in the feeder, a plurality of cleaner grates arranged in an upwardly inclined direction, each grate cooperating with a rotatable cleaner cylinder, a vertically disposed cleaning chamber above each cylinder, said chambers communicating with each other at the inclined plane of said cylinders, a refuse chamber below said grates, said elevator apron being arranged to feed a mixture of fibers from the compartments of said charger to the first of said vertically disposed cleaning chambers, first means for simultaneously driving said elevator apron and conveyor, second means for driving said cleaner cylinders, the last of said vertical cleaning chambers feeding into the upper part of a metering chamber, a pair of delivery rolls in the metering chamber, third means for driving said delivery rolls, means for varying the speed of said delivery roll drive means, a level control assembly in said metering chamber above the delivery rolls, means operated by said level control assembly to start and stop said first means at predetermined levels of cleaned fiber in the metering chamber, a delivery conveyor arranged to receive fiber from said delivery rolls, and fourth drive means for moving said delivery conveyor at a selected speed.

3. A charging, cleaning and metering equipment according to claim 2 wherein said vertical partitions of said charger slope upwardly toward the feeder.

4. A charging, cleaning and metering equipment according to claim 3 wherein said vertical partitions are spaced above said conveyor.

5. A charging, cleaning and metering equipment according to claim 2 wherein said charger conveyor is belt driven and said means operated by said feeder gate for stopping and starting said conveyor comprises a drive shaft having a drive pulley fixed thereto and a free pulley rotatable thereon, a belt shifter operable to move the conveyor belt from said drive pulley to said free pulley and back to the drive pulley, and linkage connecting said belt shifter to said feeder level gate whereby movements of the gate move the belt shifter.

6. A charging, cleaning and metering equipment according to claim 2 wherein each of said first, second, third and fourth drive means are independently variable in speed.

7. A charging, cleaning and metering equipment according to claim 2 wherein said vertically disposed cleaning chambers are partially defined by a pair of spaced vertical partitions each having an angularly disposed, adjustable baflle section at its lower end movable to extend at various heights between said cleaner cylinders whereby to vary the rate of feed through and amount of cleaning in said cleaning chambers.

8. A charging, cleaning and metering equipment according to claim 2 wherein said refuse chamber is provided with an air exhaust opening of adjustable size.

9. A charging, cleaning and metering equipment according to claim 2 wherein said level control assembly comprises a substantially horizontal bar pivot-ally mounted and extending across said metering chamber, an upwardly extending plate fixed at its lower end to the bar,

1 l and a downwardly dependent adjustable counter weight secured to said bar.

10. A charging, cleaning and metering equipment according to claim 9 wherein said bar is provided with a pair of spaced, downward-1y opening conical sockets in its lower side, each socket seating on a fixed pin having an upwardly directed point.

11. A char-gin. cleaning and metering equipment according to claim 9 wherein said bar extends outside of said metering chamber though openings in the walls thereof, said sockets and pins being located outside the metering chamber.

12. A charging, cleaning and metering equipment according to claim 11 wherein a mercury switch is mounted on said pivoted bar outside the metering chamber and forms part of said means operated by the level control assembly to start andstop the first means.

13. Changing, cleaning and metering apparatus for feeding and blending fibers, comprising a laterally compartmented charger defined by vertical partitions and having a substantially horizontal conveyor below the partitions, a feeder disposed at the output end of said conveyor, a substantially vertical elevator apron in said feeder, a pivoted level gate in said feeder, means operated by said gate for stopping and starting said conveyor at predetermined levels of fiber in the feeder, a cleaner grate cooperating with a rotatable cleaner cylinder, a vertically disposed cleaning chamber above said cylinder, said elevator apron being arranged to feed a mixture of fibers from the compartments of said charger to said vertically disposed cleaning chamber, first means for simultaneously driving said elevator apron and conveyor, second means for driving said cleaner cylinder, said vertical cleaning chamber feeding cleaned fiber into the upper part of a metering chamber, a delivery roll in the metering chamber, third means for driving said delivery roll, a level control assembly in said metering chamber above the delivery roll, means operated by said level control assembly to start and stop said first means at predetermined levels of cleaned fiber in the metering chamber, a delivery eonveyor arranged to receive fiber from said delivery roll, and fourth drive means for moving said delivery conveyor at a selected speed.

14. In a charging, cleaning and metering apparatus, a cleaning unit having variable cleaning and feed rates comprising an enclosure having an inlet opening near the top at one side and an outlet opening near the top at the opposite side, a plurality of cleaner grates of semicylindrical shape arranged in an upwardly inclined direction toward said outlet opening, each grate having a rotatable cylinder disposed coaxi'ally with the axis of the grate, a pair of spaced vertical partitions each having an angularly disposed, adjustable baffie section at its lower end movable to extend at various heights between said cleaner cylinders, and means for rotatably driving said cylinder.

15. In a charging, cleaning and metering apparatus, a cleaning unit according to claim 14 wherein is additionally provided a refuse chamber below said grates having an air exhaust opening.

16. In a charging, cleaning and metering equipment for feeding and blending fibers, a metering unit comprising an enclosure having an inlet opening near its top and a delivery outlet near its bottom, -a pair of fluted delivery rolls in the bottom of the enclosure above said delivery outlet, means for driving said delivery rolls, manually controllable potentiometer means for varying the speed of said delivery roll drive means, a level control assembly in said metering chamber above the delivery rolls, means for feeding fiber to said inlet opening, switch means operated by tilting of said level control assembly to start and stop said feed means at predetermined levels of fiber in the enclosure, 21 delivery conveyor below said metering enclosure to receive fiber delivered by said delivery rolls, and drive means for driving said delivery conveyor at a selected speed.

17. In a charging, cleaning and metering apparatus, a metering unit according to claim 16 wherein said level control assembly comprises a substantially horizontal bar pivotally mounted and extending across said metering enclosure, an upwardly extending plate fixed at its lower end to the bar, and a downwardly dependent adjustable counterweight secured to said bar, said bar being provided with a pair of spaced, downwardly opening conical sockets in its lower side, each socket seating on a fixed pin having an upwardly directed point.

18. In a charging, cleaning and metering apparatus, a metering unit according to claim 17 wherein said bar extends outside of said metering enclosure through openings in the walls thereof, said sockets and pins being located outside the enclosure, and a mercury switch mounted on said pivoted bar outside the metering enclosure and forming said switch means to start and stop said feed means.

19. A charging and metering equipment for feeding and blending fibers, comprising an elevator feeder, a charger spaced from and preceding said feeder having lateral oomp-antments for charging from different bales and a conveyor leading to the feeder, means for driving said feeder and said charger conveyor, level operated means in said feeder for stopping and starting said drive means, a metering unit connected to receive fiber from said feeder and including metering drive means, and level operated means in said metering unit for stopping and starting said feeder and charger drive means.

20. A charging, cleaning and metering equipment for feeding and blending fibers, comprising an elevator feeder, a charger spaced from and preceding said feeder having lateral compartments for charging from different bales and a conveyor leading to the feeder, means for driving the feeder and charger conveyor, level operated means in said feeder for stopping and starting said drive means, a cleaner and opener connected to receive fibers from said feeder and including cleaner drive means, a metering unit connected to receive fiber from said cleaner and opener and including metering drive means, and level operated 1 means in said metering unit for stopping and starting said feeder and charger and said cleaner and opener drive means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

P. C. FAW, D. NEWTON, Assistant Examiners. 

1. A CHARGING, CLEANING AND METERING EQUIPMENT FOR FEEDING AND BLENDING FIBERS, COMPRISING A LATERALLY COMPARTMENTED CHARGER DEFINED BY VERTICAL PARTITIONS AND HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL, BELT DRIVEN CONVEYOR BELOW THE PARTITIONS, A FEEDER DISPOSED AT THE OUTPUT END OF SAID CONVEYOR, A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL SECOND CONVEYOR AND A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL ELEVATOR APRON IN SAID FEEDER, LINKAGE CONNECTING SAID GATE TO A BELT IN SAID FEEDER, LINKAGE CONNECTING SAID GATE TO A BELT SHIFTER FOR STOPPING AND STARTING SAID FIRST CONVEYOR AT PREDETERMINED LEVELS OF FIBER IN THE FEEDER, A PLURALITY OF CLEANER GRATES OF SEMICYLINDRICAL SHAPE ARRANGED IN AN UPWARDLY INCLINED DIRECTION, EACH GRATE HAVING A ROTATABLE CLEANER CYLINDER DISPOSED COAXIALLY WITH THE AXIS OF THE GRATE, A VERTICALLY DISPOSED CLEANING CHAMBER ABOVE EACH CYLINDER, SAID CHAMBERS COMMUNICATING WITH EACH OTHER AT THE INCLINED PLANE OF SAID CYLINDERS, A REFUSE CHAMBER BELOW SAID GRATES HAVING AN AIR EXHAUST OPENING, SAID ELEVATOR APRON BEING ARRANGED TO FEED A MIXTURE OF FIBERS FROM THE COMPARTMENTS OF SAID CHARGER TO THE FIRST OF SAID VERTICALLY DISPOSED CLEANING CHAMBERS, FIRST MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY DRIVING SAID ELEVATOR APRON AND HORIZONTAL CONVEYORS, SECOND MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID CLEANER CYLINDERS, THE LAST OF SAID VERTICAL CLEANING CHAMBERS FEEDING INTO THE UPPER PART OF A METERING CHAMBER, A PAIR OF FLUTED DELIVERY ROLLS IN THE BOTTOM OF THE METERING CHAMBER, THIRD MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID DELIVERY ROLLS, MANUALLY CONTROLLABLE POTENTIOMETER MEANS FOR VARYING THE SPEED OF SAID DELIVERY ROLL DRIVE MEANS, A LEVEL CONTROL ASSEMBLY IN SAID METERING CHAMBER ABOVE THE DELIVERY ROLLS, SWITCH MEANS OPERATED BY TILTING OF SAID LEVEL CONTROL ASSEMBLY TO START AND STOP SAID FIRST DRIVE MEANS AT PREDETERMINED LEVELS OF CLEANED FIBER IN THE METERING CHAMBER, A DELIVERY CONVEYOR BELOW SAID METERING CHAMBER TO RECEIVE FIBER FROM SAID DELIVERY ROLLS, AND FOURTH DRIVE MEANS FOR MOVING SAID DELIVERY CONVEYOR AT A SELECTED SPEED. 